Fender and life-guard for street-cars



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, s.. DU MOULIN. FENDER AND LIEEl GUARD EOE STREET GARS.

vNo; 504,081. 'Patented Aug29,1893.

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Patented Aug; 29, 1893.

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Si DU MOULIN. FENDER AND LIFE GUARD EOE STREET GARS.

Petemed Ang. 29, 1893,.

"a 'WJ-:NTER- r\/\/| TIJISSES- efe maw' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL DU MOULIN, (DF-BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FENDER A'ND LIFE-GUARD FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 504,081, dated August 29, 18793.

I Application filed October 15, 1892. Serial No. 449,043. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, SAMUEL DU MOULIN, of Boston, in the county of Suolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fenders and Life- Guards for Street-Cars, of which the followdescription of the accompanying drawings,

and to the claims hereinafter contained, and in which my invention is clearly pointed out.

Figure l of the drawings represents a plan of my invention, a portion of the track rails and one pair of the car wheels, ywith the outline of the car body shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a portion of a car with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section on line 2, 2, on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation the cutting plane being on line 3, 3, on Fig. l, and looking toward the front, the larger part of the dasher being broken away to show in elevation the mechanism for raising and lowering the revoluble brush-like cylinders, which mechanism is located in front of said dasher. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of one of the revoluble brush-like cylinders, drawn to an enlarged scale. Fig. 6 is an enlarged section of a portion of the dasher, and the fender frame, and illustrating the manner of securing said fender to the front of the car. Fig. 7 is a detail illustrating the manner of mounting the treadle lever for operating the locking bolt, and Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively a plan and a sectional elevation of my revolving brush mechanism as applied to the six and eight wheel electric cars.

In the drawings A is the frame or body of the car, B B are the forward wheels of the truck, D is the dasher, E the brake operating shaft vprovided with the crank E', F is the power controlling shaft, and G G are the forward steps of the car` all constructed in any Well known manner.

II H are the track rails which may be of any well known form and laid in any Well known manner.

vwheel teeth to engage said chain.

Beneath the car platform is mounted a frame I I in bearings in which are mounted the driving Wheel .I and the two cylindrical brushes K K, the wheel .I being provided upon each side thereof with a series of bevel gear teeth b, which engage with the teeth of the bevel pinions c c secured upon the inner ends of the shafts d d ofthe brushes K K, and serve to rotate said brushes when the wheel J is revolved.

As there are now in use upon street railways, and likely to be for some time to come, cars mounted upon four wheels, the axles of which do not swivel, and as a .consequence have to be placed at a comparatively short distance from each other and at a considerable distance from the ends of the car, the bodies of which cars are liable to have a considerable fore and aft rocking motion imparted thereto, and as there are also in use cars mounted upon two four-wheel swiveling trucks, and also cars l mounted upon a sixwheel radial truck the bodies of which two last mentioned cars have none of the fore and aft motion imparted thereto and only a slight vertical movement due to the yielding of the supporting springs, I arrange to drive the obliquely arranged brushes K K in the case of the four-wheel car by the traction of the wheel .I coming in contact with the ground as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and in case of the six or eight-wheel cars the wheel J is driven directly from the forward axle N of the truck by means of the sprocket wheel N secured on said axle, and thechain O connecting said sprocket wheel N to the wheelJ which is provided on its periphery with the usual sprocket In this latter case the frame I I is built into and forms a part of the truck frame andis of sufficient strength and stiffness to support the wheel J and the brushes K K at its front end, and said wheel and brushes revolve within a short distance say about one and one-half inches of the ground, but never touch the ground.

In the case of the four-Wheel car the frame I I is pivoted near its rear end say at ato the under side of the body of the car, and during the ordinary running of the car and when there is no danger of running into or upon a person or animal upon the track, the forward IOD end of the frame I I is raised into the posi` tion shown in Fig. 3 with the driving wheel .I some distance above the ground, by pressing down upon the lever e through the medium of the rod e and handle e2 said frame being connected to the lever e by therod fas shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The frame I I and driving wheel J and brushes K K are maintained in said raised position by the lockingbolt g, mounted in bearings h h secured to the front of the dasher or platform, said bolt being normally held in the position shown in Fig. 4 by the spring t', which yields. when the frame I I is raised, to allow the beveled end of the lever e to pass above said bolt g, when said boltis forced toward the left of Fig. 4 by the tension of said spring, its beveled end passing beneath; the right hand endof the lever e and serving as a support for said lever and thus maintains the frame I I', the wheel .I and the brushes K K` in the elevated position shown in Fig. 3. rPhe bolt g is connected by the chain j, after passing over the pulley 7s, to the treadle lever L, fulcrumed atl in front of the dasher, and having its movable or pad endinside, or at the rear, ofthe dasher ina convenient position for operation by the operators right foot as shown in Figsl and 4.

Inifront of the dasher D is suspended therefrom a` yielding fender'composed of the horizontal metal bars m m n and n the vertical barsoo and p preferably of wood, the three series of volute springs p mounted onV the bars p, and. two series of similar springs o mounted` on each of the bars o o, the spring inclosing coverings q q q and the fender band` M, made preferably of canvas or some strong flexible material. This fender is suspended` fromithe upper edge of the sheet metal dasher Dby means of the clamp irons r secured to the bar m and provided with the set screw r as shown in. Fig. 6.

The brushes K K are each composed of a metal shaft cl, a wooden coverings secured on. said shaft and made polygonal" in. cross section and a series of fingers t secured upon each of the Hat sides of said covering andi projecting therefrom tangential to a. circle concentric to the axis of saidrshaft d,as shown nFig. 5. Thetingers t may be of theform shown in the drawings or they may be round pieces` of any strong tough wood', such as hickory orrattan, or of any other such tough flexible and elastic materialias may be found" best adapted to the purpose.

Between the inner ends of the brushes K1 K thereisaspace not covered by said brushes, andi to cover this space I secure to theportion of the metal frame I which is in front of the wheel J and between the inner ends of said brushes, a series of stationary pendent fingers t', which will serve to push any object struck by them forward with the motion of thecar and prevent the wheels passing over the same.

The operation of my invention is as folf lowsz-The fender band M with its carrying frame being properly mounted on the front dasher and the frame I I with the wheel J and brushes K K being properly mounted beneath the platform of the car, and, if pivoted as in the case of the four-wheel car, secured in their raised positions by the bolt g engaging with the under side of the inner end of the lever e as shown in Fig. 4, said 1ever e being then in the position indicated by dotted lines in said Fig. 4, if the car is run `ning at a high: rate-of speed, and a person or animal steps in front of the car in such near proximity that the object is likely to be struck before the car can be stopped, the motor man or operator places hisfoot upon the treadle L and depresses it., thus withdrawing the bolt g from beneath the lever e, when the force of gravity will cause the front end of the frame I Ito descenduntil the periphery of the wheel .I strikes the ground, when it will be revolved in thedirection indicated by the arrow u on Fig. 3, and the brushes K K willbe revolved in the directions indicated by the arrows v o on Fig. 2, the ends ofthe lingers tt revolvingwithin about one and a half inches of the ground. If the car is a six or eightwheeler, andl the frame I I carrying the wheelJ: and brushes K K is mounted on the forward truck as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the brushes K K will" wouldprostratethe person or animall there ,would not be the same liability to fataltinjury that would occur were the elastic fender of my invention` not employed', because ofthe `iyielding and elastic nature thereof. I'f the person or other object were standing when istruck. atone side or theother of the center "ofthe track he wouldfbe thrown outwaltdpby` 1 virtue of the oblique position of said' fenderband on either side ofthe center of` the car,

`butif he should" be prostrated; between. the track rails or upon one or the other of the rails he would be brushed'outward. byoneor the other of the brushesK K', or be, pushed along by the stationary lingers t secured to the frame I between the inner ends ofthe revolving brushes K, i'nr case he falls directly in front of the center of the car. In any case `lthe wheelsiofthe car could not run over. the

porsonfor-objeet and the liability to fatalinjury would be very greatly reduced if notentirely done away with.

Vhat I claim.. as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States,is-

l. The combination with a street car of' an Ling, the fender band Ml will iirst strike the iobject, and while in all probability the blow IOO IIO

elastic fender placed in front of and covering the dasher, composed of the flexible band M drawn taut over or around a cluster or series of springs o at each end, and the cluster or series of springs p at its center, said springs p being located in advance of the springs o substantially as described.

2. In combination with a street car,ayield ing and elastic fender'covering the front of the dasher; a pair of revoluble brushes arranged obliquely to the center line of the car beneath the car platform with their axes at right angles to each other or nearly so, and adapted to revolve with their peripheries in near proximity to the ground; and means having provision for revolving said brushes when the car is in motion.

3. The combination with a street car of the frame I I; the wheel J; the two revoluble brushes K K arranged with their axes at right angles to each other; the bevel gears b and c, and means having provision for revolving said wheel and brushes when the car is in motion.

4. The combination with a street car of the frame I I', pivoted at its rear end to the car body; the wheel J and the brushes K K mounted in bearings in said frame; mechanism for raising the front end of said frame to remove the wheel J from contact with the ground; a locking bolt for supporting said parts in their raised positions; and a treadle mechanism for retracting said bolt to permit said .Wheel J to fall into contact with the ground.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specication, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 13th day of October, A. D. 1892.

'SAMUEL DU MOULIN.

VVitn esses:

N. C. LOMBARD, ALFRED H. BURLEN. 

